Foreign Divers Hit With Up to $1,000 Customs Fees for Photo Gear in Mexico

Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo — International sport divers are being charged customs duties on their personal photography equipment when entering Mexico, a practice that a local cave diver says is driving specialized tourists away from Cozumel and the Riviera Maya.

José Urbina Bravo, a cave diver and member of the Cenotes Urbanos collective in the Riviera Maya, said many foreign visitors arrive with cameras, flashes, underwater lights and other specialized gear to document their dives in cenotes and reefs. At customs, officials have held the equipment and demanded payments that in some cases reach $1,000.

“These are tourists who come to enjoy the cenotes and reefs, not to sell photographic equipment,” Urbina Bravo said. “This type of visitor generates significant economic benefits for Cozumel and the Riviera Maya, but these measures end up discouraging them from coming.”

Urbina Bravo said the situation is already resonating on social media and in diving publications, where some content creators and international operators have urged travelers to avoid Mexico. He cited diver Jacques Oiseau, who said he will no longer visit the country while the fees continue.

“There are plenty of incredible diving destinations in the world where you don’t have to deal with this kind of extortion,” Oiseau said. “Until this stops, I won’t return to Mexico, and neither will Dive Talk trips.”

The activist said many divers travel with expensive equipment that is strictly for personal use, yet customs treats it as if it were commercial merchandise. Mexican divers who go abroad with their own gear face similar scrutiny when they return, he added.

Urbina Bravo called on federal authorities to review customs procedures for diving tourists, warning that the fees could hurt the flow of specialized visitors and the revenue they bring to Cozumel and the Riviera Maya.